Ready for winter :: Beekeeping October 2017

How did we get to mid-October already? I’ve condensed and the hives are almost ready for winter. One hive took itself down:

That webbing would be wax worms. Boo, wax worms.

This hive was a loss, but it’s parent colony was not. However, I think it went queenless for a while. When I opened it late last week, brood was dry and late stage larval, so I think the queen I saw, unattended, was new and unmated. For a single story hive, it was bursting at the seams, so I used its population and adequate honey stores to bolster a hive elsewhere.

I’ve got a light hive and only a couple drawn frames with some honey to give it, so I’m feeding.

The weather is still pretty nice — look at that bright orange pollen on the bee on the right!